Comments by "Mikko Rantalainen" (@MikkoRantalainen) on "HP sued over scanner that requires ink; their defense is ridiculous" video.

  1. I'd guess that the firmware in the printer is stupid enough to always pump the cartridges when the printer is powered on. This is not safe with inkjet printers if the cardridge is empty because you could suck air into the print head. As customer typically want water insoluble prints, once you get air into the print head, any existing remains of ink in the print head dry up and clog the print head. As the ink is not soluble after drying, there's no way to salvage the print head after this. Now, the decision to always pump the cartridges during the power up is equally stupid stuff to Epson, who does the same thing. But in case of Epson, their firmware is not insane enough to also disable scanner part in case printing cannot be done because low empty cartridge. The solution I have? Use Epson inkjet printer with 3rd party refillable cartridges that automatically report half-full to the printer, water soluable ink and there's no problem. You can safely run the cartridge to empty because the ink is soluable. The water soluable ink from 3rd party has a sensible pricing as a bonus and still outputs original quality prints. There are two con-sides though: the ink is water soluable so you must not get any prints wet because the ink will flow again. And water soluable inks are not equally strong against fading because of UV light. So you must periodically re-print the stuff you want to keep in UV light with bright colors. Not a problem for me because my archival format is digital and paper prints are for temporary use only.
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